Starting Five, Plus One • The family of junior Keita Bates-Diop is working to give back after Kai, Keita’s younger brother, suffered cardiac arrest and was revived by athletic trainers last year at a high school practice. The family is working to raise funds for organizations to purchase automated external defibrillators (AED), a device used by University High School (Bloomington, Ill.) athletic trainers Maddie Biehl and Emily Martz, to revive Kai last February. Read more at http://www.go.osu.edu/KBDFamily. • Keita Bates-Diop was selected to the John R. Wooden Midseason Watch List Feb. 5. He is one of 20 players who remain in the running. Bates-Diop was one of 14 players nationally selected to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List Jan. 22. The award is given to the USBWA’s college basketball player of the year. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Feb. 7 Bates-Diop is one of 10 candidates for the 2018 Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award. • Chris Holtmann is the first Big Ten coach to record a 9-0 record in conference play during his first season since Sam Barry went 11-0 to start the 1923 campaign at Iowa 95 years ago. Holtmann is the third coach in conference history to start his career in league play at 9-0 or better. He also is the first Ohio State coach to win 20 or more (22) regular-season games in his first season in Columbus. Holtmann has won 20 or more games in each of his last five years as a head coach (Final year at Gardner-Webb, three at Butler and this season in Columbus).Coaches to Start Career 5-0 in Big Ten Walter Meanwell, Wisconsin, 12-0 in 1912 Sam Barry, Iowa, 11-0 in 1923 Chris Holtmann, Ohio State, 9-0 in 2018 Tom Davis, Iowa, 6-0 in 1987 Bucky O’Connor, Iowa, 5-0 in 1952 O.B. “Ozzie” Cowles, Minnesota, 5-0 in 1949 • Both Jae’Sean Tate and Keita Bates-Diop, along with fifth-year transfer Andrew Dakich, are college graduates. Tate (sport industry) and Bates-Diop (economics) earned Ohio State degrees after three and a half years when they went through graduation ceremonies Dec. 17 in Columbus. Dakich (history) is a graduate of Michigan playing his final year of eligibility at Ohio State as a graduate transfer. Both Dakich and Tate are working on graduate degrees in coaching. Bates-Diop is now working on a minor in psychology. As a team, the Buckeyes posted a team GPA of 3.1 last semester with 10 student-athletes earning a 3.0 and five earning a 3.5 GPA. • By the Numbers: Keita Bates-Diop reached 1,100 points for his career with a 35-point effort vs. Illinois Feb. 4 (1,138)…he is the 55th player in Ohio State history to reach 1,000 points for his career…he reached 500 (567) career rebounds with eight at Northwestern Jan. 17…after scoring 17 points to reach 1,000 for his career against Minnesota, Bates-Diop is the 28th player in Ohio State history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds…he reached 500 points this season (538) with 35 vs. Illinois…Thirty three former Buckeyes have scored 500 or more points in a season at least once for a total of 50 campaigns with a player scoring 500 or more in a season…Bates-Diop is 41st on the all-time Ohio State scoring list. 39. Frank Howard 1,147 40. Jamaal Brown 1,13941. Keita Bates-Diop 1,138 42. Richard Schnittker 1,129 C.J. Jackson reached 500 points for his career with five at No. 3 Purdue Feb. 7 (517)…Jackson played his 50th career game for the Buckeyes vs. Maryland Jan. 11…Jackson has 20 games this season with 10 or more points, including 19 in the last 24 games…he has 56 assists and 25 turnovers in the last 13 games. Jae’Sean Tate scored 16 points vs. Indiana to reach 1,400 career points (1,436)…he is averaging 12.7 points a game this season and 11.8 ppg. for his career…Tate ranks No. 23 all-time in career scoring (1,436). Bill Hosket is 22nd with 1,458 career points. 21. David Lighty 1,458 22. Bill Hosket 1,44123. Jae’Sean Tate 1,436 Paul Ebert 1,436 25. Larry Bolden 1,408 In addition to his abilities on offense, Tate joined the 700 club in career rebounding at Ohio State with six boards vs. Indiana…he has 716 over 122 contests for an average of 5.9 a game…he became the 14th Buckeye all-time to reach 700 career boards…the game against the Hoosiers Jan. 30 was his 100th career start in an Ohio State uniform. Ohio State played in its 300th game this decade (2010-18) vs. The Citadel and is 232-82 after the win the last time out vs. Iowa. The Buckeyes have put together the winningest decade in Ohio State history. • Tate is one of just eight players in the NCAA this season to make every field goal attempt in a game in which they took double-digit shots after connecting on all 10 field goal attempts vs. Northeastern…Tate is third nationally in field goal percentage (.550) among players 6-4 or shorter…Bates-Diop is fifth nationally among players 6-7 or shorter with 43 blocked shots…among players with at least 40 blocks, Bates-Diop has the second-highest PAR (points+assists+rebounds) nationally at 30.5…that 30.7 PAR is the third-highest among all Buckeyes since 1996-97, behind Evan Turner in 2009-10 (35.5) Michael Redd in 1997-98 (31.4) and ahead of D’Angelo Russell in 2014-15 (29.9) and Jared Sullinger in 2010-11 (28.5).